The Labour Party has raised questions in the Dáil about the leather pistol holster worn by Detective Garda Colm Horkan who was murdered in Co Roscommmon almost five years ago.
He was shot dead in Castlerea, on 17 June 2020, by Stephen Silver who used the detective's official firearm and was sentenced to a minimum of 40 years in prison.
Labour's Spokesperson on Justice Alan Kelly said he was aware that Det Gda Horkan was wearing a "defective" leather holster from an equine saddlery in Co Kildare.
He asked why the pouch was never presented for ballistic examination.
The same type of holster was in use during a serious incident days before Det Gda Horkan's murder, the Tipperary North TD added.
On 11 June 2020, Mr Kelly said, a garda's gun was accidentally discharged outside the Israeli Embassy resulting in life-changing injuries to the member.
The pouch was "so dangerously defective that the holster could actually engage the trigger and fire the weapon of its own accord," he said.
Ballistics experts also found that "the holster was so poorly designed the firearm could be removed from the holster with the so-called retention strap fully fastened," Mr Kelly added.
"This obviously left the gun open to removal by individuals other than the garda member carrying the firearm."
Mr Kelly asked why it took until 2023 for the holsters to be removed from An Garda Síochána even though a safety notice had been issued relating to them in July 2020.
He also said that he was able to procure one of the pouches and he held one up in the chamber.
Separately, Mr Kelly highlighted the issue of 392 abandoned firearms which he said were "left inexplicably in a container inside in Garda Headquarters".
The deputy held up a photograph of the inside of the container saying "this is how firearms were stored by An Garda Síochána".
Documentation was located for just 102 of the firearms while 154 of them were recorded on the Pulse computer system and 92 of them had no serial number, Mr Kelly said.
